Present Day
by Fangnatic14
Summary: Max has to move away from her best friend when she's six. Many years later, they end up going to the same school but so much has changed that they might not end up being friends. Better than it sounds . . . really. I just suck at summaries. FAX!
1. Chapter 1

***FLASHBACK***

*ten years ago*

I ran into my best friends room; Fang's room, and I was crying. I handed him my favorite bracelet. He looked into my eyes which were filled with tears.

"What's going on?" He asked worriedly.

"My mom told me that we're moving. So I want you to have my lucky bracelet."

"When are you moving?" He slowly took the bracelet out of my hand and slipped it on to his wrist. Then he removed his leather necklace; his shark tooth necklace.

"Day after tomorrow." I put his necklace around my neck and he tied it for me.

"But," he said with his lower lip trembling, "we promised each other we would never split up. You're my best friend." I hugged him and we both cried. I had never seen Fang cry before. Ever. When he pulled back, he kissed me on the cheek. I wiped it off with my hand, earning a laugh and another hug from Fang.

"I'm gonna miss you." I told him. He could always make me laugh, even when I was really sad. He was my next door neighbor since we were born. We told each other everything. Now we didn't know if we would ever see each other again, and I could see it in his eyes that he was confused and sad.

"We can still hang out tomorrow though . . . right?" He asked hopefully.

"No. My mom told me today, so I have to pack tomorrow." I explained.

"This sucks!" He yelled and it scared me. I had never seen him so mad. "How come _you_ have to move, out of everybody?"

"It wasn't our choice; my mom got a new job. You'll be there when I leave right?" I asked unsurely.

"I don't know." Fang said. I tried to give him another hug, but he leaned away and stuck his face into his pillow.

"Bye Fang."

I didn't get an answer.

"Max, are you ready to leave?" My mom was carrying the last of the suitcases out to the car.

"No." I screeched. Then I dropped my suitcase and ran over to a small column, throwing my arms and legs around it. When my mom tried to peel me away from it, I screeched even louder. "I'm not leaving without seeing Fang!"

"Fine." My mom grumbled. She took my suitcase to the car and when she got back, she threatened me.

"By the time I count to three, I want you walking toward that car missy; or I will drive off without you. One . . ." I tightened my grip on the column, one last hug to my house. "Two . . ." I unwillingly let go. "And three . . ." I started shuffling toward the car.

I hopped in and buckled the seatbelt, seeing my two year old sister blow spit bubbles in the car seat next to me and giggling hysterically. My dad was sitting in the seat in front of me, and he turned around.

"I know you're upset Max, but you'll get used to it. It'll be home." He told me.

_Yeah right,_ I thought sourly, _it will never be home unless Fang is with me._ My mom climbed into the driver's seat and started up the engine.

"Here we goooo." My mom called to us and Ella clapped her hands together. The car was still going slowly when we passed Fang's house. I pressed my hand up against the window, wanting to see him one more time before we left for good. Just then, he burst out of his front door holding up his wrist. I pointed to his necklace around my neck and he smiled, waving one last time. I rolled down the window as quickly as I could and stuck my head out, looking back at him.

"Promise you'll never take it off!" I yelled.

"Never! I promise!"


	2. Chapter 2

***PRESENT DAY***

*age 16*

My alarm went off for the fourth time and I hit snooze again. It was Thursday morning – of the first week of the new semester – in sophomore year. Ella ran into my room and jumped on my bed, ripping the covers off of me. I had been cursed since the day she could walk.

"Max, wake uuuup!" Ella moaned. I threw the pillow over my head.

"Five more minutes." I muttered.

"Max! You've 'five more minutes' four times already! Now, let's _go_!" She pulled my pillow off my head and shook me.

"All right, all right, I'm up." I grumbled.

"Yay!" She yelled rather loudly. Then she leaped off my bed and bounded downstairs for breakfast. I got out of bed quickly and started running down the stairs at the smell of bacon. I had gotten up too quickly and was light-headed. So now I was going down the stairs at full speed . . . blindly. I tripped and tumbled down the rest of the way.

"What am I going to do with you?" My mom asked jokingly and I gave her a sheepish smile.

"There's my little girl." I heard my dad say, and then I was lifted up and into my dad's firm hug.

"Hi daddy." I said. I gave him one more squeeze and took my place at the table, where my mom had already set my plate down.

"You're gonna have to hurry Max, you slept in twenty minutes. And if you're gonna have to skip a shower, so be it." My mom said, sitting down to eat her own food. No way was I going to skip my shower, my glorious shower. If time didn't exist, I'd never get out of a shower. So that was when I started inhaling my food. Not literally but, you've got the idea. My mom rolled her eyes and my dad sighed. Ella giggled.

I ran upstairs and took a short shower, though I wanted to stay in longer. I threw a T-shirt and jeans on, and then threw my hair up into a messy bun. Then I slung my bag over my shoulder, brushing my teeth. Saying bye to my family took no time at all, and then I was on my way to school.

* * *

Today was like every other day; a fight in the morning, then going into homeroom. For this school, homeroom was like the morning announcements/news. Teachers would quickly inform us about things that would be going on. It took about five minutes, really.

"Okay," said Mr. Hunburr, "there's not really much news, so I'll tell you what's going on and then you can talk the rest of the time." The class erupted into cheers. He really was my favorite teacher, and I was glad I had him for English. "Alright! Calm down, calm down. Now, there is a new student arriving today so don't give him a hard time." Some of the jocks snorted and I sighed, typical. "His name is Nick Sanders. He's in gifted, so he might be in a few of your classes. Try to be nice to him on his first day. Alright, that's it."

I lounged back in my chair and flipped open my latest book, _Anne Frank's Diary._ Soon, my boyfriend snatched it from me and took a long look at it.

"Seriously?" He asked. "How could you be reading something so upsetting?"

"Good morning to you too, Sam." I said. Then I grabbed it back from him. "And it's not boring; it's actually quite interesting to see how they managed to hide from the Nazi."

"Did you remember to print out our History report? We get extra credit if we turn it in a day early."

"Damn it. I forgot. I'm sorry. I won't forget to print it out tonight though." I apologized. His face turned red.

"What do you mean, you _forgot?_" He was really mad.

"I don't know, I just –"

"Never mind. I can't depend on you for anything. We're through." Then he mumbled something like, "If you want something done right, do it yourself," as he walked away. I just rolled my eyes. Whatever, he wasn't that much of a boyfriend anyway. The bell rang, allowing us five minutes to get to our lockers and to out first class. First was a bore, as was second, and third . . . and forth. Finally it was time for lunch.

I saw the new kid walk by my table at lunch, with a long sleeved black shirt on. He kind of reminded me of Fang, my best friend back in Arizona, the one that knew what I was going to say before I said it. I sighed, remembering the day that I had left, when Sam plopped into the chair in front of mine.

"I'm sorry about earlier." He began but I held up my hand to stop him.

"Look Sam," I told him, "we've been friends since I moved here and when you asked me out, I didn't think that your fun-loving attitude was going to change. But you became more controlling and I'm tired of breaking up every other day. I think we should just stay friends because in the long-run, neither of us would be happy from going out."

"You're right." He agreed after a few moments. "I think we get along better when we're not together."

"Definitely."

* * *

After lunch, it was free period. Turns out Nick Sanders, or whatever, was _in_ my free period. I had met his eyes for a split second, and I swear I was getting déjà vu. He wasn't in my fifth period, but he _was_ in my sixth and seventh.

In sixth, he looked at me for a little bit longer and I managed a small smile. He turned back around without even blinking in response to my smile. What was I supposed to do, go charging up to him and ask "who are you and what the hell do you want"? I don't think so. His eyes especially reminded me of Fang when we were little. But it couldn't be him, there was no chance that _he_ could have moved – to the same state, to the same county, to the same town, and apply to the same school – I was sure of it.

He was a little late to seventh and when he got there, the teacher just pointed at my seat. As he was walking toward me, he stopped and looked at my necklace. I subconsciously brought my hand up to it, feeling the shark tooth that had gone dull since I rubbed it when I got nervous. He shook his head and sat down next to me, staring at the desk in a very bored-like manner.

"Hey," I whispered and he half-nodded. "I'm Max." He glanced at me with an expressionless face and raised an eyebrow. "I know, I know. It's a guy's name." He just shrugged. Whatever. I realized that this, indeed, was _not_ Fang. The Fang that I had known actually talked and used facial expressions. This guy just seemed . . . blank.

I stayed silent for the rest of class, feeling socially awkward. Once the bell rang, I pulled my car keys out of my bag and started walking toward my car. The new kid, Nick, was right in front of me. Either he could drive, or his parents were picking him up. He spotted his mom – I guess he couldn't drive yet – and rolled up his sleeves as he strolled toward her. My eyes shot to his wrist, since it was the only thing on him that wasn't black.

"Fang!" I screamed and he stopped walking. I called him again. "Fang!" he turned around, looking for the source of his old nickname. His brow furrowed together as he searched the crowd. I shot toward him like an arrow – practically attacking him – and he saw me a split second before I embraced him in a hug. He stood still and got a good look of my face before hugging me back.

"You never took the necklace off." He said in surprise.

"And you never took the bracelet off." I replied. I felt a tear drip down my face. Cut me a break, I hadn't seen my best friend for ten years.

"I promised you I wouldn't." He told me. "I have to go though. I'll see you tomorrow." He started walking back to the car.

"You have to sit with us at lunch!" I yelled and he smiled.

"I will. I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

"Mom?" I let my bag fall on to the La-Z-Boy as the door clicked shut behind me. My mom walked around the corner from the kitchen.

"What is it Max?" she asked. I ran into her arms, trying as hard as I could not to scream happily and jump up and down. "Is something wrong?"

"No mom, no. Nothing's wrong, far from it actually."

"Then what's going on?" She gave a small laugh.

"Fang's back mom! He's back!" I couldn't hold my excitement in for any longer. She looked at me and blinked a couple times.

"That boy back in Arizona?"

"Yes! Don't you remember? He was my best friend! How could you _not_ remember?" I let her go and stared at her. She just shrugged.

"I don't know, I forget names over time. I'm only human!" She ran back into the kitchen and started crying. Then my dad walked out.

"Hey kiddo. You look confused. What's up?" he asked me.

"Did you and mom get in a fight?" I asked worriedly.

"No."

"Then why is she so –"

"I'll tell you later. You don't need to worry about it right now. So what_ is_ going on? I heard you yelling about something."

"What?" Oh. Wait. _Duh._ "Oh, yeah. My best friend from Arizona is back!" How could I have possibly forgotten about that?

"Fang? He was always such a nice boy and I felt horrible when you had to leave him. I'm happy you guys found each other again." He put his hand on my shoulder briefly and then walked into the kitchen to rejoin my mother.

* * *

"So," my dad said as he passed me the bowl of corn, "your mother and I have something –"

"I'm pregnant." My mom blurted out and my mind went blank. A smile spread across Ella's face.

"I'm so excited for you mom! This is great!" Ella got out of her chair and hugged our mom.

"I'm glad you think so." My mom said. "And Max? What about you?" My name caught my attention and I looked at her, a fake smile plastered on my face.

"It's great!" I lied. I finished eating while my family discussed names.

"What do you think Max? What would you suggest?" My mom asked. I shrugged.

"Ari . . . I don't know why, I just like it. I have to go do homework." I got up and set my plate in the sink. Then I grabbed my school bag off of the recliner and trudged up to my room. I would talk to Fang about this later.

* * *

"Hey guys!" I greeted Iggy and Tess as they sat down with Fang, Sam, and I. "Where were you guys yesterday?"

"I took my little sister out for a day of fun!" He told me.

"Hey!" Tess exclaimed, slapping him, "I'm only three minutes younger than you!"

I laughed and introduced them to Fang.

"So, _you're_ the famous Fang." Iggy said jokingly.

"You didn't get that already?" Tess asked him. "He looks exactly how Max described him in all of her stories!" Fang turned to look at me.

"You told them about me?"

"Just about every day." Sam cut in. "It was always, 'and then Fang did this, and then Fang did that, then I laughed, and we all lived happily ever after'." He said in a singsong voice that sounded _nothing_ like mine. Fang smiled at me.

"Anyway," I interrupted, feeling very self-conscious, "Fang, you already know Sam from when I introduced you a couple minutes ago and this is Iggy and his twin sister, Tess. Their parents own _the_ hottest teen club in town."

"Cool." He said. Tess rested her head on her hand and eyed him carefully, like if she were studying his face.

"You don't talk much." It wasn't a question.

"Nope." He replied.

"Whoa." Iggy drew out the word. "You talk less than Max when she's PMSing!" Tess tried to smother her giggle and Iggy stared wide-eyed. I, of course, felt my face heating and had to look away so Fang wouldn't see my reaction. Did Iggy _really_ have to just say that? When I calmed down a bit more, I stared Iggy in the eye with my famous death glare.

"Just wait." I told him. "I'll get you back. It may not be now – or today, or in the next two _years_ – but I _will_ get you back, when you least expect it." Iggy flinched and I saw amusement in Tess's eyes. She knew what I was doing. I wasn't going to do anything to him, but I was going to _act_ like I was. He would get so paranoid that he'd make himself go crazy.

This would be hilarious.

* * *

Fang sat next to me in free period since we could sit wherever we wanted.

"We need to hang out this weekend like, tonight and get caught up on everything since the others won't be in our way." I said. "What do you think?"

"Sure. What should I bring?"

"Anything you want." I said simply. He nodded, thinking it through. Then he slowly smiled and turned toward me.

"I know what I'm gonna bring." He told me.

"What?" I asked.

"You'll see."

* * *

"Ella?" I called once I got in the house. She quickly came downstairs when she heard my "can you do me a favor" voice. Since I never asked her for favors, she was happy to do it when I _did_ ask for one. If that makes sense.

"Yeah?"

"Can you do your chores?"

"Which ones?" She asked.

"The floor and bathroom. I have a friend coming over soon."

"What's her name?" Ella questioned.

"_His_ name." I corrected her. "And it's Fang."

"Fang . . . mysterious. Do you like him?" She pestered.

"No. You were still too young to have remembered him. He was my best friend before we moved." I explained.

"And you found each other again?" her hands were clasped together before she started spinning around with her arms open. "It _has_ to be kismet Max! Just see, you'll end up together." I laughed at her and stopped her from spinning before she threw up.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. Just do your chores." I went upstairs to clean my room.

* * *

Fang walked in with a small box and a guitar case. He leaned the case up against the back of the couch and set the box on the coffee table, while looking around.

"You play?" I asked him, gesturing to the guitar.

"Um . . . somewhat." He shrugged. "A lot has changed since we were six."

"Yeah, I know." I agreed. Fang gestured to the couch and I sat next to him. He pointed to the box and I picked it up, opening it slowly. Inside were some pictures of two blond-haired kids. I gave a small laugh.

"Well, who are they?" I looked straight into his eyes. I noticed that some people seemed intimidated by him at school because of they way he looked. He didn't have that affect on me though – I could look into his eyes and only see kindness . . . and some hurt.

"They're my half-siblings." He explained. "My mom and dad got divorced less than a year after you left. She got remarried to a really nice guy and had Tommy and Angel. We call Tommy Gazzy . . . just please don't ask why." He gave a small chuckle.

"I'm sorry Fang." I closed the box and set it down on the table. Ella came trotting down the stairs with an overnight bag.

"Where are you going?" I asked her.

"Monique's. I'm gonna sleep over there and I'll be back somewhere around lunch." She informed. I got up and walked over to one of the kitchen drawers, grabbing a pack of earplugs. I tossed them to her and she laughed, tucking them into her pocket.

"Have fun." I told her.

"You too." She said heading to the door. "It was nice to meet you Fang!" She called.

"Likewise." He replied. Ella shut the door behind her leaving me and Fang alone. I wondered where my dad was.

"So how about a song?" I asked him. He sighed and took out his guitar.

"I'm not singing though." He grumbled.

And then he started to play.


	4. Chapter 4

Fang concentrated as his fingers strummed the guitar. After about four minutes, he played the last note. I clapped for him.

"It wasn't that good." Fang told me.

"Yeah it was." I argued. "You sound like a professional!" Fang shrugged and set his guitar back in the case, when the phone rang. I picked it up, only to hear my mom's voice.

"Max? I'm running a little late at the office. Can you start dinner for me? Just _don't_ cook it."

"Yeah mom. Love you." I hung up the phone and walked into the kitchen to start dinner. Fang was shuffling through our DVDs.

"You wanna watch something later?" I asked him and he shrugged. He kept looking through all of our movies until I was done with dinner. We sat back down on the couch. It was silent, but it wasn't awkward; it was actually kind of comfortable. I had to break it though.

"What's it like, to have two younger siblings? Do you get completely ignored by your parents?" I thought out loud. I pulled my knees up to my chest and crossed my arms over them. Fang looked up at me with faint surprise.

"It kinda feels like that because the younger kids need more care than you do. But then you realize that your parents still love you just as much. Why do you need to know though? You only have one sibling."

"I'm gonna have another one in a little bit. My mom's pregnant again; I just wanted to know what it was like." I explained.

"Well if you ever feel neglected," Fang said, "you can always come to me and talk about anything you need to."

"Okay."

My mom walked into the house a few minutes later and saw the meatloaf on the counter, waiting for her to cook it. She looked over at me.

"Thanks Max." Then she looked at Fang. "It's nice to see you again Fang. How are you?"

"It's nice to see you too." He said. "And I'm good, thank you." My mom smiled and placed the meatloaf in the oven.

"Dinner's going to be ready in about forty minutes." She informed us. Then she left the room, leaving us to talk again.

"I have one more question." I told Fang.

"Ask away."

"You don't have your license yet?" I asked.

"How much older are you than me?" He answered my question with a question. Ugh.

"Four months."

"And how long ago did you get your license?"

"Two months ago." I told him.

"So there you go. I'm getting my license in about two months."

"You couldn't have just told me that in the first place?" I asked, annoyed. He just shrugged. _Again_, with the no talking. I rolled my eyes at him and he smiled – something that he hadn't been doing a lot of these days.

* * *

"It's nice to see that your friendship is still in tact after all these years." My dad said.

"Yeah. It is." I looked over at Fang, who nodded.

"For most people, they wouldn't be friends after that long period of time." My dad continued.

"Were not most people though, are we?" Fang asked him.

"True." My dad agreed. We talked about hobbies we were interested in, sports, classes in school. By the time we had to clean up, it was almost nine.

"Are we still gonna watch a movie?" I asked Fang. "It's getting kind of late."

"We can still watch a movie. It's not _too_ late." I nodded my head and we walked into the den. My mom and dad went to bed since they had to get up early for work. I flopped on to the couch, stretching out over the entire length of it.

"Pick whatever you want." I told Fang. He nodded slowly and then smirked at me. "What?" I asked.

"Nightmare on Elm Street." He said.

"Fine." I sighed. "Put it in." Fang set the DVD into the player and flipped the TV to the right channel. When he walked over to me, he stared at my feet.

"Can't I sit?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Uh-uh."

"Fine." He grabbed my ankles and moved them so he could sit down. My feet fell into his lap. He smirked at me.

"I win." He claimed and I rolled my eyes at him. He picked up the remote and hit play.

I won't lie to you. The movie was pretty scary. And the graphics were actually pretty real . . . and gory. During one part, both Fang and I were leaning toward the TV. Now, we both knew that something was about to pop out, due to the suspenseful music, but our eyes were glued to the TV anyway.

The kids' dreams were connected and Freddy Krueger was chasing them, killing them. There was only one kid left and she was hiding behind a column. She took a few deep breaths and peered to one side of the column, seeing that it was clear. Then she glanced to the other side. When she double checked the first side, he was there. He raised his clawed hand and as he brought it down, I looked away. I saw Fang jump and started laughing.

"What?" He asked.

"You . . . y-you . . . you –" I couldn't finish my sentence I was laughing so hard. Fang leaned over and grabbed my face with both of his hands, probably causing me to look more squished than mashed potatoes. My breathing hitched as he stared straight into my eyes. You wanna know what he did?

"Stop laughing." He instructed. I swallowed my giggle and pressed my lips together to try to keep from smiling. "What's so funny?" He asked. I took a deep breath before answering.

"The tough, emotionless Fang is scared." I snorted again and Fang rolled his eyes, releasing my face. I pushed his shoulder playfully. Fang and I must have been really tired because by the time the movie was over, we had fallen asleep and were leaning against each other.

* * *

At some point in the night, my mom came into the den and asked us to get up so she could like, unfold the couch or something like that. I was half asleep and could see the outline of two pillows being thrown down and a blanket being stretched over the "bed". Fang and I plopped on to it and fell back asleep. We were too tired to care about anything besides rest.

* * *

I sat up and stretched. Then I noticed a small piece of paper on my lap. I carefully unfolded it and read the note from my mom. I could barely comprehend what it said, but it was something about how I had to make breakfast for me and Fang.

My eyes slid over to his face and I panicked. He wasn't supposed to stay over. I shook his shoulder.

"Fang. Wake up." He opened his eyes and I saw a mixture of emotions before they fell flat. He noticed the daylight shining through the windows and sat up, fully awake and alert.

"I spent the night? How did that happen?" He started shuffling around for his phone.

"On the coffee table." I sighed. He grabbed it and I walked over to the pantry to see would I could make without burning down the house.

"Hey mom." I heard Fang say. I found a pancake mix and took it down from the shelf, along with some vegetable oil. "Yeah. I know. I'm sorry; I wasn't planning to stay the night. We're okay though, we're safe." I grabbed the measuring cups and egg cartons and set them on the island with everything else. "Are _you_ okay though?" He asked her. "Alright. I love you. Bye."

Fang sighed and pulled the covers off of himself. He swung his legs over the edge and swept his hand through his shaggy hair.

"Why wouldn't your mom be okay?" I asked Fang. I grabbed a mixing bowl and I was walking toward the island when Fang answered me.

"My mom was just diagnosed with cancer."

My eyes drifted to the ceiling fan as I felt my hands drop to my sides, letting the glass bowl fall to the ground and shatter around my feet.

**Ok so here's the deal. I've never actually _seen_ Nightmare on Elm Street because i cannot stand scary movies. If i hear the sound of a scream, i start crying. i know, i'm a wimp but whatever. i just don't want a bunch of BS on any reviews. Thanks :D**


	5. Chapter 5

"Max!" Fang called, though it sounded more like an echo from my dreams. I didn't really process what was going on, until I felt Fang's hands on my waist, lifting me up on to the island. I grabbed his wrists and threw them down.

"What do you mean? Your mom's too nice to have cancer. She's like my second mom. I mean, she's . . . she's . . . Lucy!"

"Max," Fang said softly. "Bad things don't always happen to bad people." It was the sad truth, I couldn't deny it. I almost started crying. My eyes did tear up though and my lip trembled.

"Do Angel and Tommy know?" I asked.

"Sort of." He answered. "They know she's sick, but they don't know how bad it is." I broke into tears and Fang slid me off the counter, pulling me into his comforting embrace. I rested my head on his shoulder and my hand was clutched on to his shirt.

"But . . . _why_?" I was shaking.

"Max? Do you need to sit down?" Fang asked. I nodded my head and he guided me over to the bed-couch-thing. When we sat down, he put his arm around my shoulder. I wiped my nose with the blanket. Fang put two fingers under my chin and turned me to face him. He stroked my cheek with his thumb to wipe the tears away and I blushed. Why? I don't know.

"I'm gonna go take a shower." I said quickly. I stood up and darted upstairs to where my luxurious shower awaited. I turned the radio up really loud and got into the shower, letting the hot water wash away any thoughts about any subject. A song by Taylor Swift came on, _Fifteen_, actually. I sang along, putting all of my emotion into it.

* * *

I looked into Max's eyes and rubbed away a tear that had streaked down her face. I felt her cheeks heat up.

"I'm gonna go take a shower." She said frantically. And just like that, as quickly as we sat down, she was gone. I stared at the bracelet she gave me so long ago. A few minutes later, I heard the radio blasting Taylor Swift, and I could barely make out Max's voice. I hesitantly walked to the bathroom and pressed my ear to the door. Once I blocked out the sound of the shower and the radio, I heard Max's voice clear as day.

She was _great_, at worst.

* * *

I wrapped a clean, fresh towel around myself and squeezed out my hair in the sink. I threw on a pair of jeans and a T shirt, nothing special. Really. Fang was looking at me when I walked downstairs.

"What?" I asked him.

"Sing the first verse of Amazing Grace."

"What? No." I looked at him like he was crazy. "I'm not a good singer." I lied. Fang snorted.

"I heard you singing when you were in the shower. I already _know_ you're a good singer." He told me.

"Then why do I need to sing again?" I argued.

"Just sing." He sighed. Then he looked into my eyes, almost as if he were pleading and placed his hands gingerly on my shoulders. "Please."

"Fine." I grumpily agreed.

_Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,  
That saved a wretch like me.  
I once was lost but now am found,  
Was blind, but now I see._

"There. Are you happy now?" I asked sarcastically.

"Very." Fang answered.

"Why did you need to hear me sing?"

"I had a crazy idea of how cool it would be if we had a band. Only if the others can play an instrument though."

"That's –"

"Weird. I know. Just . . . never mind. Forget I ever said that." He ran his hand though his hair and I grabbed his wrist.

"You do that when you're nervous." I assessed. "And I would actually love the idea of forming a band." He just shrugged. He really didn't talk as much as he used too. It kind of bothered me. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Nothing's . . . wrong."

"I know you're lying." I said truthfully.

"Fine . . . you caught me."

"So what's up?"

"I'm worried about my mom."

"Do you wanna go home?" I asked him.

"Yeah but . . . I still wanna hang out with you." I smiled at him and when I heard my sister come in the front door, I let go of Fang's hand.

"What's going on?" asked Ella.

"Fang is trying to figure out how he can hang out with me, but be at his house." I stared at him intently, waiting for him to figure it out. _I_ already knew the solution, but I was gonna make him figure it out. Evil, aren't I?

"Why don't you just bring her to _your_ house?" Ella pointed out and I shot her a look that said _thank you for ruining my fun and games_. She just shrugged.

"Oh. Wow. I am like . . . you know," He looked right at her. "that I was about to say that right? But no, you just _had _to say it first." He gave her one of his real smiles and she laughed.

"Yeah. You _totally_ meant that." She rolled her eyes – something she learned from me, I'm proud to say. "Oh! Max, I meant to tell you. Nudge just got this cute little doggy named Total. He's like, a little black Scottie, and he's really hyper too. But he is just the _sweetest_ thing."

"That's cool." I agreed. "When did they get him?"

"Two days ago. I'm gonna go upstairs and start my homework that I was supposed to get done over the weekend." She left the room. I laid back with my feet still on the ground and Fang laid down with me.

"Do we have any home work?"

"I don't know. I just got here less than a week ago. If we _do_ have homework, we'll probably remember it on the way to school Monday morning." Said Fang.

"Do you wanna start riding with me to school? It would be easier on your mom." I offered and Fang looked over at me.

"Yeah. That'd be really nice. Thanks."

"Sure." I smiled as the fact dawned on me that Fang was back, here with me. I was finally home after all these years.


	6. Chapter 6

Fang had wanted to spend time with his family Saturday night, so we agreed on just hanging out on Sunday. I pulled up to his house and saw two little faces pressed against the window. When I got out of the car, Angel and Tommy came running out of the house and hugged me around my legs. I patted each of their backs with a hand.

"Are you Max?" Angel asked sweetly and I laughed at how cute she was. Both of them, actually.

"Yes I am."

"Oh! Well, I'm Angel and this is Gazzy. We call him Gazzy cause he farts a lot." She waved her hand in front of her nose. "And I made this for you!" She handed me a piece of paper with a drawing of "me" on it. I smiled.

"You're a very good drawer."

"I helped!" Said . . . Gazzy.

"Well you _both_ are very good drawers then." I looked up to see Fang leaning in the doorway. I motioned him over with my head and he snuck up behind Angel, picking her up into the air. She let out a small, happy squeal and started laughing.

"Come on." Fang said. As Gazzy walked beside me, he took my hand. It was amazing how trusting these kids were. When we all got inside, I saw Fang's mom chopping up some onion in the kitchen. She spotted me and put down the knife, wiping her hands on a dish towel. As she walked over to me, her eyes shone.

"It's been so long since I've seen you, Max." She said as she hugged me. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Hi Lucy." I smiled at her. "You haven't changed that much either." She gave me one more quick hug and headed back to the kitchen. "Lunch will be ready sometime in the next hour."

"Thank you." Fang and I said. We went into his room which had all different shades of gray and some black. There was also some blue scattered around. Fang closed the door as I drifted over to his bed, sitting down. He came and sat next to me.

"So, what do you think?" He asked just as I spotted an old picture of us. I picked it up.

"Cute." I told him and he chuckled. He had kept it on his nightstand. He took it from me.

"You know," he said, "I remember this day."

"I do too."

***FLASHBACK***

*11 years ago*

"Alright kids," said Fang's dad. "It's ready." Fang and I jumped up from the couch where we had been anxiously awaiting our surprise for the entire day. We ran out in to the back yard to see a tree house in the tall oak. It had a tire swing coming down from one of the branches, a ladder for climbing, windows and doors (even though they were only cut outs of the wood), and a porch going completely around the tree house. It even had a little fence. Fang's dad was just crafty that way, very artistic.

Fang and I stared, wide-eyed, at the tree house. We smiled at each other and raced up the ladder. Inside the tree house, it was filled with snacks, two bean bag chairs, a radio, and some things to draw and color with.

It was a five year olds' heaven, practically.

The wind was blowing really hard and I climbed up on the fence. Then I carefully leaned forward and grabbed hold of a large branch.

"What are you doing?" Fang asked me.

"It feels like I'm flying! Try it!" I yelled. He climbed up next to me and also grabbed hold of the branch. The wind blew my hair back and Fang looked over at me, smiling. I closed my eyes and laughed.

That was when his mom took the picture.

***PRESENT DAY***

"It's one of my best memories." Fang told me. Then he set it back down on his nightstand. I looked at him with a semi-surprised face

"Really?"

"Well, yeah." He answered. "I just remember how fun that day was. We ate so much candy! And then we got stuck after my mom took the picture and she had to climb up to get us." He paused for a moment. "You know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"You're involved in most of my best memories." He said, laying back.

"Seriously?" I asked him and I laid my head on his stomach. We kind of looked like a T. We heard a slight knock at the door and then Gazzy's voice.

"Fang? Can I come in?"

"Yeah." I felt Fang's stomach tense up as he spoke. Gazzy walked in.

"I wanted to show you and Max something I just . . . are you guys going out?" He changed the subject so quickly and I sat up to look at him. Fang propped himself up on one elbow and replied calmly, while I would have probably started freaking out.

"No. Why would you think that?"

Gazzy shrugged. "I don't know. You guys just seemed all cuddly." I met Fang's eyes and we sort of made a disgusted face at each other. There was no way, _no way_, I could _ever_ go out with Fang. Gazzy's innocent blue eyes looked at us.

"So what were you saying?" I asked him.

"Oh! I made something that I wanted to show you guys a cool new firework I made!"

"You make fireworks?" I was _so_ confused.

"Um, yeah." He said in a "duh" tone of voice. Fang and I got up and followed Gazzy downstairs and into the street. He told us to stay back as he lit the firework with a match. He ran back to us.

The firework started off by spinning around in circles, making the sparks fly outward in a swirly pattern. Then it stood upright, all by itself, and turned into a fountain looking explosion. Every time a spark hit the ground, it turned into a small, black-looking rock. Gazzy ran forward and started picking them up. He handed them out to me, Fang, and Angel.

"What are they?" I asked, examining them closely.

"Snappers!" He agreed perkily. "Throw them on the ground!" I did and it made a loud popping sound. I actually jumped a little bit. Fang and Angel smiled over at me and then we all started throwing them at the ground. Fang and I had a little war by throwing them on each others feet.

"So do you like it?" he asked and we laughed, telling him we loved it. Then I told him about how Iggy liked to do stuff like building fireworks and explosives and how they could get together.

Yeah . . . it probably wasn't the _best_ idea I've ever had.


	7. Chapter 7

We had walked back inside and Lucy informed us that lunch would be ready soon. So Fang, Angel, Gazzy, and I were watching TV to waste time. I had my head resting on Fang's shoulder. I sighed.

"Wouldn't it be cool if there were cushions that you could rest your head on?" I asked him.

"I think it's called a pillow." He looked at me from the corners of his eyes and smirked. I smacked his arm and blushed, embarrassed.

"I knew that." I told him.

"Sure you did." He replied sarcastically. He subconsciously stroked my hair with his hand.

"I meant to tell you about the whole band thing."

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Well, I already know that Iggy plays drums and Ella plays the violin, although I don't know if that'll help at all. And Ella told me that Nudge plays piano, so she could do keyboard."

"Cool." He said shortly. "You know, I could teach you how to play guitar if you want."

"Really?" I sat up with a smile on my face.

"Well once I get my new guitar I can give you this one and teach you _then._ But the guitar I want costs a fortune."

"Whenever you can teach me, I'll be ready. I can wait a while, as long as I still learn sometime."

"Okay." He smiled at me and his mom called us into the kitchen/dining room for lunch. Angel acted like a cat, slurping water out of her glass, and it was pretty cute. Gazzy was a total slob, I'm not gonna lie. And Fang and I kept making faces at each other and cracking up.

"You know what we should do next weekend?" I brought up.

"What?"

"A sleepover like we used to when we were little." Fang looked like he was thinking about it when Gazzy made a disgusted face.

"But girls have cooties!" He shouted and Angel giggled.

"So do boys." She argued. She _did_ have a good point . . .

"Yeah. I'm gonna have to agree with Gazzy," Fang shrugged, "girls have cooties." He winked at me so, of course, I smacked him upside the head and rolled my eyes.

"I meant by having a whole group together. Like with Iggy, Tess, _not_ Sam, me, you, and Ella of course, and I'll have her invite Nudge so you can get to know everyone."

Fang nodded. "Sounds cool. Where?"

"My house. And we do group sleepovers all the time. I sort of talked them into it, because it reminded me of when _we_ had group sleepovers; and it was another way of staying connected to you." I explained timidly.

"All right then. Your house it is."

* * *

The week passed by slowly, I mean _really_ slowly. It was boring too, like a horribly written story. And then I did this, and then I did that, and then this happened, and then I _died_ . . . because I'm so boring _all_ the time. **(if you've ever seen Alex Reads Twilight on Youtube, you'd fully understand this joke. I don't know which chapter it's in so just watch them all.)**

Anyway, it turned out that Iggy got us a gig at his parents' club somewhere between Groundhog Day and my birthday. (What are the odds? Hmm, let's see, 10 for - 0 against.) The 27th of February, I think. That information was the only thing that kept us alive for the week or else I actually _might've _died.

When it came time for the sleepover, I had everything set up (as in, blankets on the couches and an air mattress on the floor) and I already had the sleeping arrangements made. Nudge got there first, then Iggy and Tess, and finally Fang. We made Ella and Nudge each sleep on a recliner, since they would fit, and I _was_ going to make Iggy and Tess sleep on the air mattress, but they said it was weird for them to be in the same bed together. Can you guess who got put there? The last two people left.

Nudge and Ella talked me into letting us play Truth or Dare _and_ Spin the Bottle (I changed the rules so we only had to kiss cheeks. Could you imagine if Iggy had to kiss Tess, his own sister? Ugh, _so_ not an image I want in my head.) Once it was about ten or so, we put in a movie, a romantic comedy. I fell asleep a few minutes into it because I'm more of an action kind of girl.

When I woke up, it was still early and I felt Fang's arm draped over my waist, which was actually sort of comforting. I rolled over to face him and I noticed that he was already awake.

"Good morning sunshine." He said in a goofy voice and I tried to stifle my laughter so I wouldn't wake the others up.

"You're so weird." I whispered

"I know." He replied.

"I've really missed you." I told him self-consciously. "I mean, I know we've hung out for the past two weeks but it doesn't make up for ten years, you know?"

"Yeah. I know." He agreed. Without even realizing it, I hugged Fang, tears forming in my eyes. I held them back by falling back to sleep.

**Okay so for some reason I've connected Max's birthday to the 15th of March since that's when the 6th book came out and they all got older. I know it's nowhere _near_ her birthday though. If Fang is a Scorpio (it said it in the back) and Max is suppposed to be about four months older than him, then she's approximately a Leo. Anyway, tell me what you think. Is there too much FAX? My friend told me there was so i need to know your opinion. And also, all these chapters are ones that i have already written and they're ready to put on. Once i post up to where i've typed so far, there _will_ be a decrease on how quickly it gets up there so don't freak out and think i've stopped writing(just so your head doesn't fall off) ;) Holy crap i sound like Nudge. haha**


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up again and Fang was still next to me. Everyone else was in the kitchen, getting breakfast.

"You stayed?" I asked him with faint surprise.

"Yeah. I didn't wanna move because I didn't want to wake you up. You looked so peaceful in your sleep." He halfway smiled. I sat up and looked at everyone. They said good morning and continued eating. Iggy was smirking and gave me a nod. I ignored it and looked back at Fang who looked kind of confused.

"What?" I asked him.

"Um, Max?" He pointed to the sheets and when I looked down, the blankets were red all over. I threw them off of me and ran into the bathroom. I'm not gonna go into details, but I realized that I did _not_ actually get my period. That meant that someone pulled a prank that completely embarrassed me in front of Fang and Iggy. Wait . . . maybe _not_ Iggy. Maybe _he_ pulled the prank on me; that would be why he was acting so strange earlier.

I grabbed a new pair of shorts from underneath the bathroom sink, (yes, I _do_ actually keep some of my clothes there) and ran into my bedroom. I threw myself onto my stomach and buried my face in a pillow. To put it simply, I started crying. I heard Tess, Nudge, and Ella come into my room and sit down next to me.

"I'm sorry Max." Tess apologized. "We didn't know Iggy was gonna do something like that."

"Yeah. He totally confessed to it after a couple of minutes." Said Nudge. My sister spoke next.

"Max, it was just a joke and I know it was still embarrassing, but there's no need to cry. Nobody got hurt."

"That's not true." I spoke into my pillow. "_I _got hurt." Nobody said anything back and I heard the door shut as they left my room. After another few minutes, someone _else_ came in. If it was Iggy then I was going to rip his head off. But no, it was the one person I was _actually_ embarrassed in front of . . . Fang.

"Go away." I grumbled. He ignored me and laid down next to me. He started rubbing my back and I hit his hand away.

"Max, I know it was just a prank. Iggy told me." He chuckled. "And I actually almost beat him up because of it." I looked at him and he was smirking.

"Really?" I asked stupidly.

"Yeah. I don't like it when someone makes you embarrassed . . . or hurt."

"Thanks." I muttered. "It was still embarrassing though."

"Why?"

"Because," I started, "even though it _wasn't_ it _could've_ been!" I knew that I didn't have to say anything specific for him to know what I was talking about. "And he embarrassed me in front of you!" I blurted out. I re-shoved my face into my pillow.

"I really don't care Max. This might make you feel better and worse at the same time but, before I knew it was a prank, I took the sheets off and threw them in the washing machine. _That's_ how much I don't care about it. Now can we _please_ go down stairs?"

"Sure." I replied unhappily. We walked downstairs and I saw Iggy who looked terrified of me. Well, let him! If he was scared of me then he shouldn't have done that in the first place. I walked right up to him and slapped him across the face.

"You know how I was gonna get back at you? Well now, it's gonna be three times _worse_." I whispered into his ear. His eyes widened and I sat onto the couch, stretching across it. I think he got the message. I still wasn't really gonna do anything to him though.

Iggy started panicking and I could practically feel his "scared" vibes. All of the girls stifled their laughter, and then Nudge spoke up.

"So I had to write a haiku for my Language Arts class because we just started learning about them. Did you know that there are three lines in each haiku, and the first line is five syllables, and the second line is seven, and then the third line is five again? Why doesn't it go seven, five, seven? That's weird, don't you think?"

"Nudge!" We all yelled.

"Sorry. Okay so here it is." She took a deep breath.

"_Haiku's are pretty _

_but sometimes they don't make sense. _

_Refrigerator."_

We all started laughing . . . except Fang, of course. At least he was smiling . . .

* * *

On Monday, I had my back leaning on the wall when Fang came up to me. He put his arms against the wall on either side of me and asked with a smirk, "Am I making you uncomfortable?" I had a brilliant idea to make him freak out. I hugged him. It _totally_ worked.

On Tuesday, a girl walked by our lunch table and waved at Fang. He waved back and nodded once. I elbowed him in the side.

"Looks like somebody likes you." I teased. He shrugged but looked back at her. I knew what he was thinking.

Wednesday was pretty interesting. For English, Mr. Hunburr assigned homework. In one week, we had to find a poem that meant something to us, memorize it, and recite it back to the class if we didn't already have one memorized.

"If you already have one memorized, please present it now." He announced. I raised my hand and he called me up to the front of the class.

"My poem is Caged Bird by Maya Angelou."

_The free bird leaps  
on the back of the wind  
and floats downstream  
till the current ends  
and dips his wings  
in the orange sun rays  
and dares to claim the sky. _

But a bird that stalks  
down his narrow cage  
can seldom see through  
his bars of rage  
his wings are clipped and  
his feet are tied  
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings  
with fearful trill  
of the things unknown  
but longed for still  
and is tune is heard  
on the distant hill for the caged bird  
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze  
an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees  
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn  
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams  
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream  
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied  
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings  
with a fearful trill  
of things unknown  
but longed for still  
and his tune is heard  
on the distant hill  
for the caged bird  
sings of freedom.

I had gotten so into the poem that I completely forgot I was in school. The class started clapping and it actually scared me a bit. Mr. Hunburr had a look of awe on his face.

"When did you remember that poem?"

"When my grandma died a few years back. It was her favorite poem and I decided to recite it at her funeral rather than make up a eulogy."

"Well, it was brilliantly performed." Mr. Hunburr complimented. I smiled and sat back down.

Thursday was when the girl who waved at Fang introduced herself. Her name is Lissa Jones and she's really nice. She doesn't dress inappropriately, she isn't annoying, she's smart, and she can sing too. That might actually be useful in our band. I'll have to talk to everyone about it later.

On the last day of the week, Tess told us that she got Ms. Ellen, her drama/band teacher, to lend the band room to us for practice. Ms. Ellen teaches drama and band, but Tess is her best drama student. I called up Nudge and Ella so they could get here to practice with us. Our first gig was only two weeks away you know.

**Okay so two things that were totally random in this chapter were Nudge's haiku and when Max hugged Fang after he asked her if he was making her uncomfortable. I got those off of a website called . I was laughing so hard that i HAD to put it in. . . sorry. I just noticed that Nudge would say something totally random like that and Fang would completely freak out over a hug. Oh another thing that was random was the poem. i was at dance practice for my recital and my friend asked me for help on her literature homework between dances. i read the poem and thought of this story and the actual books, i couldnt stop reading it. One last thing. My recital is on the 6th (Sunday) and my last two days of school are on the 7th and 8th which means that i won't be able to post until the 10th (i'll write a chapter on the 9th). Please review and if you have an idea (thats not obviously going to happen) please put it on your review. ESPECIALLY YOU D! ill try to use it at some point or another and if i dont, ill use it in a different story. :D**


	9. Chapter 9

Okay, so here was the deal. None of us actually knew one song that was the same so we each played (or sang, in my case) the hardest song we knew, just to see our limitations. To put it simply, we _rocked_! We came up with our set list which was only about four songs since it was only our first gig. We also used Ms. Ellen's computer to print out each person's part. Iggy's sheet was only drums; Fang's was only guitar, stuff like that.

Everyone looked over the songs and we agreed to meet for one hour everyday and the on the weekends up until the gig. The day _before_ the gig though, we would set up and do sound checks.

"Alright guys." I said. "We'll meet up tomorrow at my house around ten until like eight. That okay?" I got nods from everyone. We gathered our things and started walking out but Fang grabbed my arm.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" He asked almost shyly.

"Sure." Ella and Nudge were still within earshot of us so they turned around. I tossed Ella my car keys. "Go wait in the car. I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay." They ran of toward the parking lot. I turned back toward Fang.

"So what's going on?" I asked him.

"I uh, kind of have to leave early tomorrow." He gave a little cough.

"Why?" I asked more seriously.

"I . . . sort of have a, um, date tomorrow."

"With Lissa?" I paused for a second. "What time are you leaving?"

"Like, between six and seven." He said and I let out a sigh.

"Alright. Come on, we got to get home. Don't make a habit of this."

* * *

It was pretty stupid of me to schedule a rehearsal the _day after I gave out the music sheets._ Like seriously, everybody only knew like, the first _quarter_ of the first song. So after we ran through what we all knew, and then we concentrated on our own parts for a little bit.

Fang left early like he said he would. I was happy that he didn't choose a jerk-faced person to go out with. Like I said earlier, Lissa is really nice. I kind of felt hurt though because of the fact that Fang chose to leave his friends to go on a date with someone he just met a couple days ago. Anyway, I was still happy for him; he was already adjusting to living here.

When practice was over, I grabbed my cell phone and texted Fang to stop by my house before he got home. Sometime around ten, I heard a knock on the door and I jumped off the couch. I greeted Fang with a smile and brought him inside.

"So, how'd it go?" I teased him.

"It was . . . nice."

"Did you kiss her?" It was always easier to cut to the heart of the matter. Fang waited a few seconds before answering.

"Yes." More silence. "Well, I got to go before it gets too late. Bye Max." We walked to the door and I hugged him, not taking it for granted. I knew that him having a girlfriend meant that we wouldn't be as close.

I was going to miss him even if he was right next to me.


	10. Chapter 10

Sunday morning I called everyone an hour before we were supposed to meet and told them just to practice on their own parts. The truth was that I kind of wanted a lazy day . . . and I was scared that Fang would ditch us. But he couldn't ditch us if we didn't have practice now, could he? I know, I'm crazy and a little over-dramatic but still . . .

* * *

I should probably tell you what happened at lunch on Monday. Iggy, Tess, Sam, and I were sitting at our usual spot and Fang was walking toward us when Lissa looped her arm in his, turned him around, and started walking with him to all of her friends. I stared, shocked at what just happened.

Everyone stopped eating to watch what was happening and to see my reaction. I let out a heavy sigh and looked back toward Iggy, Tess, and Sam. Iggy and Tess were staring in Fang's direction with their mouths hanging open. Sam looked at me and gave me a sad smile.

"It's okay." I reassured them. "I knew this was going to happen." We all continued eating our food and I glanced over at Fang who was already sitting down. He met my eyes and gave a small shrug. Lissa sat down on his right, which blocked us from seeing each other, even though there was space on each side of him.

I'm pretty good at first impressions. If I thought Lissa was nice before she started acting like this, then I need to keep an eye on her. This girl could act.

* * *

At the end of the school day on Wednesday, I was walking to my car when I heard a little yelp. I stopped where I was to listen to where the noise was coming from.

"Please don't hurt me." I heard a girl's voice call. I threw my bag into my car and stomped off toward the girl. I found her under the bleachers outside with some guy, a football player I think. He shoved her into one of the metal supports and it made me furious. I stood right behind the guy and tapped his shoulder twice. He was holding each of the girl's arms and was pinning her to the support. He looked over his shoulder at me and I smirked and waved. Once he threw the girl to the ground, he turned around to face me.

"You ain't a very smart girl, butting into other people's business." He growled.

"Well I'm definitely smarter than you since I can talk properly." I said snidely. His face became bright red.

"I don't need this shit." He muttered and started turning back toward the girl. I snapped my fingers in front of his face, making him turn back toward me.

"Unfortunately for you, _I_ still need this shit. You see, I pretty much just lost my best friend to his girlfriend because she's really good at acting and I thought she was nice. So I kind of wanna beat someone up right now. And I'd rather it be for a good cause then for a bad cause like beating someone up for no apparent reason."

"Like _you _could beat _me_." He challenged.

"Try me." I smirked. His fist came straight at my face. I dodged to the left, grabbed his arm, and twisted it behind his back until I heard his shoulder pop. I kicked the back of his knees and he crumpled to the ground. He moaned pathetically and held his shoulder. I placed my foot on his chest to keep him down and I leaned toward him.

"I think you lost." I told him. "Now get out of here before I do some _real_ damage." He scrambled up from the ground and ran faster than if some psycho murderer was coming after him. I know I sound like a bully, but I couldn't let this innocent girl get hurt. I let out a sigh and looked at the girl who was staring at me in shock, not knowing whether to be grateful or completely freaked out. I started to walk away when she talked.

"Thank you, by the way." She said, getting up. She ran up next to me and we continued walking toward the parking lot.

"You're welcome. I'm Max." I said casually.

"JJ." She replied.

* * *

I sat in the driver's seat, seriously aggravated with Fang. He was supposed to be here by now. I mean, _I _was late and I was still here before him. Finally the passenger door opened, and Fang hopped inside. I sped off to show him how pissed I was.

"What's wrong with _you_?" He asked.

"You _do _realize we have practice today, right?"

"Yeah." He said in a bored tone. That pissed me off even more.

"Then where were you?" I yelled, which surprised both of us.

"It's none of your business!" He yelled back.

"You were with Lissa weren't you?" The yelling continued. He didn't answer so I knew it was a yes. He stared out of the window and I could feel all the negative energy going on.

"I told you not to make a habit of this but no, you just _had_ to." I continued.

"Just shut up!" Fang snapped. "You don't know _anything_ about me. You're just mad that you can't get a boyfriend." I stopped the car.

"Get out." I told him angrily. "Just get out of my car right now. You'll be _walking_ to my house for practice." He slammed the door and I drove off.

"And I know _everything_ about you." I muttered to myself.

* * *

JJ sat at our table on Thursday and Friday. She had this really energetic and happy personality that made everybody love her. Fang never even looked at me anymore, and I never looked at him. He moved his seat in the classes we had together and made sure none of the teachers paired us for projects. Practices were always really awkward and now he rode with Lissa to school, and Iggy to practice.

I realized, as JJ talked to us, that fate had given us a new friend in place of an old one.

**Sorry for taking so long you guys. The school year is finally over though! Remember, if you have any ideas, send them in and I'll try to incorporate them into the story. So tell me what you think! Oh and don't stop reading this story if you're mad, it'll get better. I also think I'm gonna bring Dylan in somewhere in the next few chapters. And don't get mad if you don't like Dylan. Okay, that's it! :D**


	11. Chapter 11

**In case I have to do this, all the characters in this story are James Patterson's (except for the ones that are obviously _not _his). Okay, on with the story. ;)**

As my friendship with JJ grew stronger, my friendship with Fang became weaker and more awkward. By the time our gig came around, we acted like we didn't even know each other's names. I hated it. And standing up on stage right next to him was torture. I saw Lissa in the front row; she was here for obvious reasons. I just wanted to make up with Fang. In case you're interested in the music more than what's happening in my life, we only sang four songs. Gravity by Sara Bareilles, If No One Will Listen by Kelly Clarkson, Redeemed by Charlotte Martin, and Come On, Come Out by A Fine Frenzy.

Immediately after the show, Fang left. _Big surprise,_ I thought. Once I got home and got in my bed, I thought about ways to possibly make him forgive me.

Maybe I could buy him back.

* * *

I had a horrible nightmare in the middle of the night and woke up sweating. Even though I was on the second floor, I was able to leave the house by going out the window. All I had to do was jump onto the tree right next to it and climb down.

You see, I have a special place I go to that's about six miles from my house. I go there when I'm upset, scared, anytime I need to think. You may be thinking that it's a really long walk but it's not. Trust me on this one.

I made my way through the cool night air, taking in deep breaths to calm myself down. I loved California, it was that simple. I thought about what a mistake it was for me to yell at Fang. I realized I had gotten carried away with my thoughts when I noticed my cliff about twenty feet away. I ran at full speed toward it. The highest part of the cliff was about fifty feet up and then it dropped straight down, a completely straight side.

I took my shoes off and climbed up to the top. The rocks didn't really hurt anymore when I stepped on them. Once I got up to the top, I let my toes hand over the edge. A strong wind passed and blew my hair back behind me before I sat down with my legs dangling.

My dream was about that football player that I beat up. In it, he had brought a gun to school and shot a lot of people . . . including Fang. I know I'm mad at him but it still made me extremely upset to even _think_ about him dying.

I heard a noise behind me and I automatically turned around, sitting on the balls of my feet. I picked up a slightly large rock as slowly and quietly as possible and aimed it at the noise. I threw it but heard it hit the ground. I almost started turning back around when I heard the noise again. I ducked behind a shrub, ready to attack anyone or any_thing_ that might try to hurt me.

The suspense was kicking up my adrenaline, which made the suspense worse, which pumped up the adrenaline even more. I couldn't stand it. I saw an outline of a body start to make its way closer to me. They were maybe about four feet away. I got ready to launch myself at them, whoever they were. When they were two feet away, I jumped toward them and knocked them over. Their head was hanging off the side. I was, to put it simply not grossly, sitting on top of them. As they were looking over the edge, to see how far they would fall, I grabbed another rock and brought it down to their face. Hey, it's self defense. They looked back up just in time to grab my wrist.

"Holy shit! Max?"

"Fang?" I dropped the rock and got off of him immediately. My adrenaline dropped. "What are you _doing_ out here?" I hissed. The moonlight hit his face so perfectly that he actually looked, and I hate to admit it . . . hot.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." He replied.

"I'd just like to let you know that I've been coming here since I was six."

"Oh well I guess this is _your_ place then." He said. "I'll leave."

"No. Fang I need to apologize to you."

"I'm listening." He raised one eyebrow. I sat back down and he sat next to me.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." I started. "I just got really mad because it sounded like you didn't care about practice. And then you said that I'm mad because I can't get a boyfriend and-"

"Yeah. That was way out of line for me to say."

"But it's true." I told him. "I _can't_ get a boyfriend. You know, I look around all the time and there's always a young couple holding hands or a cute little old couple that's sitting on a bench and laughing with each other. I just get scared when I think about it. I feel like, if I'm not in a relationship now then I never will be."

"Max, you can get a boyfriend anytime you want." He gave a small chuckle. "Trust me."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He explained. "There were so many guys coming up to me and asking me if you were single the other week."

"Then how come I haven't been asked out?"

"Because they were all creepers and I didn't think you'd appreciate that." He smirked.

"What did you tell them?" I groaned.

"I told them you wouldn't wanna go out with them because you were in love with a fictional character."

"Which one?"

"Harry Potter." He said. I punched him in the arm.

"That explains why Gary Shoran was dressed up in a Hogwarts costume the other day." I laughed. We sat there for a couple minutes and my mind wandered to other things . . . again.

"Is your mom getting treatments?"

"No." Fang sighed. "My mom doesn't like anything unnatural. She doesn't take pills or go to the doctor. She believes that if it never existed before, then it shouldn't exist now."

"Can _you_ take medicine?" I asked.

"Yeah. _She_ just doesn't want to. She doesn't care if we have it." He explained. Then he changed the topic. "So I heard your birthday's coming up."

"Where'd you hear that?"

"I heard Iggy and Tess talking about what to get you for your birthday when I was walking through the hall."

"Oh no." I groaned. "I don't like it when people spend money on me."

"Well when is it?"

"March fifteenth." I told him unwillingly. If he knew, he would get me something too.

"So you're turning seventeen."

"Yep." I popped the _p_. "I'm the better friend by the way." I bragged.

"Why's that?"

"I already _know_ your birthday."

"Really? When is it then?" I wasn't even _looking_ at him and I could tell he was smirking.

"July eighth. And your favorite number is three, your favorite color is blue or red depending on your mood, and you love the Beatles." I smiled at him.

"You know so much more about me than I know about you."

"I know." I stood up and started working my way down. Fang caught up to me. "So what were you doing out here in the middle of the night anyway?"

"I had a pretty bad dream." He said. Huh, so I wasn't the only one.

"What of?" I pestered.

"A shooting at our school. I think it was by a football player. But it's just a dream right?" He chuckled and I gulped. I didn't want to explain to him about how I had the same dream and freak him out. It'd be better if I kept it to myself. I took a deep breath before answering.

"Right."

**I have something funny i want to share with you guys. My older sister works at Sam's club and she sees interesting people every day. So a business man comes in and he's on his bluetooth, he's in a suit, has a briefcase, the whole set. I mean, this guy was no-nonsense. He had a nametag on. Wanna know his name? Lord McConehead III. I'm not even joking with you guys. Alright, if you have any questoins about my story (like if it's too confusing) send it in with your review and I'll answer you with one of these notes at the beginning of the next chapter. Thanks! :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay. I'm gonna have some stuff to say at the bottom. Sorry for not updating sooner! I'll explain after this chapter. :)**

Fang talked Lissa back into sitting with us. She unhappily agreed. She whined, then she tried flirting (which didn't work out so well), she finally gave up though and had a pouty face around him for the rest of the day. He also told me that we could hang out this weekend because of the whole fighting situation that went on for the past couple weeks. He was gonna get Lissa to baby-sit Gazzy and Angel, since his mom and step-dad were going to be on a date.

* * *

**Angel POV**

I got really excited when Fang told me his girlfriend would be babysitting me while he and Max were hanging out. I haven't met her yet but I really wanted too. Gazzy just wanted to make some kind of exploding thing. He's always making stuff like that.

When the doorbell rang, I looked up from my Barbie doll and then I kept brushing her hair. I loved Barbie's, you could dress them up and you could play with their hair and my favorite part was being able to make up stories. Fang came downstairs to let her in.

I heard her tell him hi and he said hey. The he brought her into meet me.

"Hi sweetie. I'm Lissa. What's your name?" She smiled really big at me.

"Angel." I said and I kept brushing my Barbie's hair (she was gonna go on a date with Ken). There was a small boom that sounded like it came from Gazzy's room. Lissa looked up and Fang sighed.

"I'll be right back."

"I'll be waiting." She smiled at him and when he was gone her smile was gone too. "Listen." She said and the sound of her voice made me feel like it was important to listen to her. "You and your brother are gonna leave me alone while I watch my TV show. Okay? I'm also going to give you cereal for dinner because I don't like to cook. And you better be in bed before 7:30 or else you are gonna be in _big_ trouble."

"What if I can't fall asleep?"

"You _better_ fall asleep." She was so mean! Why did Fang like her? Max is so much nicer; he should make _her_ his girlfriend.

"Okay."

"Good." She smiled meanly at me and I had a bad feeling in my tummy. When Fang came back downstairs, Lissa started smiling again.

"So what's your Barbie getting ready for?" She asked me. I got really confused. She was just yelling at me!

"Um, a date."

"Oh! Well, she's so pretty and I think you're gonna grow up to look _just_ like her." Lissa was really scaring me now.

"Well, Max is here and I can see that you guys are getting along, so I'm gonna go." Fang turned around to grab his phone.

"No! Fang!" I yelled. I couldn't be left here with her! She was _evil_! Then she looked at me so meanly that I almost went to hide in my room. I took it as a hint to cover up that I don't like her.

"What do you mean, no?" He laughed a little bit.

"Um . . . you can't leave until you give me a hug!"

"Right." He came over and hugged me and then he kissed Lissa. He _kissed_ her! Right in front of me! Ewww. She was so icky! Fang waved before he left the house and Lissa looked at me angrily. _Again_.

"I'll just go to my room." I grabbed my Barbie doll on the way up.

* * *

I stopped my car in front of Fang's house and I could see Lissa talking to Angel through the window. Then Fang came trotting down the stairs and held up a finger to me, telling me to wait a second. Lissa glared at Angel right before Fang came over to give her a big brotherly hug. Angel watched Fang give Lissa a short kiss with a disgusted look on her face. I didn't blame her; I had the same look on _my_ face. I can't help it, she's just so icky! A few seconds later, the door opened and I saw Fang walking toward the car, smiling at me. I smiled back, of course. I glanced back to the window quickly and saw Angel slowly marching up the stairs while Lissa was turning on the TV. She noticed the window curtains were open and she closed them to be sure that Fang wouldn't see her slacking off. I looked back at Fang, who was now a few seconds away from getting in my car.

"So where are we going?" He asked in his usually annoying way.

"I don't know." I admitted. "Maybe just go look around at the mall? We don't have to buy anything."

"We're _really_ gonna go look at clothes?"

"You _do_ know there's music stores there . . . right?" I pointed out. "Geez, it's like you've never been there before."

"Like _you_ have? Besides, I've only been here fore a month or two."

"Right. Sorry. I kind of feel like you've been here for a while. And I _do_ come here all the time. Not for me, but Ella and Nudge force me to take them." I said with a roll of my eyes.

"Hey!" Fang said. "Eyes on the road! Not everywhere _but_ the road! How did you get your license?"

"The same way _you_ have an A in English, kissing up to the teacher." I explained. "Let's see what's on the radio." I turned it on and found the best station. It had the newest and most popular songs of today. Most of them were pretty annoying. But every once in a while, there would be a song I actually liked. Fortunately for me, when I turned the radio on, a good song was just starting.

"What, you're not going to sing?" Fang asked. "But you _love_ to sing to the radio."

"You only know that because of your stalker-ish ways." I accused. "And no, I'm _not_ going to sing."

"Killjoy." He muttered and looked at the window. I snickered and a few minutes later, we pulled into the mall's parking lot. I led Fang toward the best music store in our mall. It carried music, instruments, band posters; you could take music classes too, but they were pretty expensive. As soon as we stepped inside the store, Fang looked around, at all the instruments covering the wall, with wide eyes. I almost laughed at his expression. There were a few people inside, browsing though CDs. One little girl picked up the Avatar soundtrack and begged her mom to get it for her. The mom finally gave in and the girl's face lit up like it was Christmas. I smiled as she left the store and then noticed that Fang had drifted toward the guitars. He spun around to face me.

"Max." He loudly whispered.

"Fang." I mimicked. He ushered me over with his hand. "What?" I asked once I got over to him. He had a look of awe on his face.

"They actually have it."

"Have what?"

"That!" He pointed to a guitar a few feet above his head. It was a sleek, black, electric guitar. I was guessing that that was the guitar that he really wanted. I looked at the sticker on it and noticed that it cost a thousand dollars. He was right . . . it _does_ cost a fortune. He didn't notice it though. I snuck up to the cashier while Fang was . . . distracted. I looked at the cashier's nametag before speaking.

"Hi Dylan. I'm Max. I have a few questions about that guitar my friend's looking at." We looked back at Fang who was now reaching up as hard as he could to touch the guitar. "Let's start off with the price."

"What do you wanna know?"

"Well, I wanna buy it for him for his birthday. I was wondering if I could have tax off. I mean, I might be able to scrape up a thousand from family and friends; but not any more than that."

"I don't know if I can do that." He said unsurely. Time to turn on the flirt. I smiled at him.

"I understand. He just really wants it, that's all. I would do _anything_ for him to have it." Okay, not really. But _he_ doesn't know that. Dylan blinked a couple times before smiling back at me.

"You know what? I can get rid of the tax _and_ give you my forty percent employee discount . . . if you can do _me_ a favor." He scribbled down his number on a piece of paper and handed it to me. "Just call me sometime." I looked at him closely. He had dark blond hair and deep blue eyes. He didn't look half-bad.

"Can do." I smiled one more time at him before turning around. As I walked back over to Fang, I stuck his number in my back pocket and rolled my eyes. I could _totally_ go into acting.

**Alright. Here we go. I couldn't update sooner because I was in Jacksonville with my aunt for the entire week. She has no computer so she obviously doesn't have wi-fi. But now I'm back. D, I miss you too and my language is going GREAT! haha! (I'm learning Na'vi for anyone who's curious). I know it's not a real language but it sounds cool. So again, I don't want any BS on my reviews about that. One last thing. Any of you who know the song Whatcha Say by Jason DeRulo NEED to know this (well at least in MY head you need to know this). The person who sings the chorus of that song DID NOT sing it just for him. Her name is Imogen Heap and it is from her song Hide and Seek. Jason DeRulo took that from her song, put it in his, and didn't give her ANY credit for it. Seriously, look up her song on youtube. So tell me what you think about the story, the song (if you listen to it before you review), or about someone you hate/like at school. ANYTHING. I just wanna know if people are reading my story. Thanks :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**I just went back and read my story online to see if anything weird happened when I put it up here and realized that there is no line to show the transitions of the days in the first chapter so sorry about that! Another thing i have to say. Thankyou for all the reviews. Irayo FANGLOVER, for speaking Na'vi. It really made my day. I actually ran into my mom's room at 12:37 in the morning to tell her that I wasn't the only one who spoke Na'vi. I woke her up though so then I**** had to make up an excuse and I was like "I got scared. Sorry!" It REALLY pissed my dad off though. Let's continue.**

I called Dylan Monday night so I would sound interested in him, but not eager. See? I think things through. Well, some of the time at least. We talked for a while and I found out a lot about him. He was in his senior year at a different school (which meant he was done in a few months), his dad was arrested before he was born because of murder, and his girlfriend of three years broke up with him a few months back.

My eyes started closing and I realized that it was past midnight. Before I hung up, Dylan asked me out. Can you believe I said yes?

* * *

I told everyone at the lunch table about Dylan. Lissa looked happy. Well, the kind of happy that said, "Good, that means you don't have to ever talk to my boyfriend again". Tess, Iggy, and JJ were genuinely happy for me but Sam looked kind of sad. I didn't even see Fang's reaction. He's probably cool with it though.

* * *

Iggy got us another gig at the club. You could hardly call us a band but we still learned a few new songs to play including White Liar by Miranda Lambert, Our Song by Taylor Swift, and Amazing Grace by Chris Tomlin. I had to move my date with Dylan to Friday so I could play on Saturday.

* * *

"So why did your girlfriend break up with you?" I asked while we waited for dinner to come out to us (we were eating at Chili's). We were getting to know each other even better over dinner and he even offered to pay the bill! He is _such_ a gentleman. Okay, I argued with him for a while about how I could pay for my own food but I eventually gave in. I know. Me, giving in? That almost _never_ happens, but I couldn't help deep, blue eyes . . .

"Well um, we had been dating for three years. So I made a suggestion that we . . . um." He hesitated for obvious reasons.

"Right." I told him, saying that I understood and he didn't have to say it. I didn't like it though, it seemed like I was going out with one of those sexist people.

"I wasn't going to force her into anything," he said quickly, "I was just wondering if she was ready. But she flipped out and told me that she never wanted to see my face again. It hurt, you know? If she didn't wanna do anything, she didn't have to." He let out a sigh and I placed my hand over his.

"I'm sorry." I felt more like a friend than a girlfriend right now since we were talking about his ex. Once our food came, I ate rather quickly. I just get hungry so quickly. I tried not to act like a slob in front of Dylan though. I didn't want him breaking up with me if I had ranch dripping down my chin. He ordered the Molten Lava Cake for our desert. My eyes were probably bigger than the plate and manners didn't matter to me after I took the first bite. We _devoured_ that thing. Dylan laughed when I sat back and rested my hand on my stomach, and then we were in his car and on the way home in no time.

Dylan pulled his car into my driveway and when I started to get out, he started to get out too.

"What are you doing?" I asked a little panicky.

"Well, I can't see your front door so I was going to walk you up to it and make sure you get inside before I leave." He explained.

"Oh. Right. Okay." I took a big gulp as I closed the passenger seat door. Dylan took a hold of my hand as we walked up to the front door. "Okay. Well, I'm here. Thanks for dinner. I had a great time. Bye." Except for it came out as, "KaywellI'." I think you can tell I was nervous. Why? You may ask. Well, because he might possibly kiss me! I know it sounds a little crazy right now but it'll kind of make more sense later on. To my horror Dylan started leaning in toward me. I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that it would be over soon. I peeked out of one eye, not being able to wait any longer, and saw that Dylan was _still_ leaning in toward me. I opened my eyes all the way and rolled them. This kiss was taking longer than the one in Twilight. Ella forced me to see it and I swear, I could have used the bathroom and gotten back before their lips met. Seriously.

I pulled my hand out of his which made him open his eyes and look at me all upset-like.

"I'm sorry, I just can't do it." I admitted. "I had a great time with you and thank you for paying for dinner, but I'm not ready to move on yet. Goodnight." With that, I turned around and walked inside, leaving Dylan alone in the night with only the porch lamp to guide the way back to his car.

* * *

I knew Dylan was working Saturday morning so I stopped by before going to the club to practice. When I walked in to the store, Dylan looked up from the cash register and gave me a small wave and a small smile. I walked up to him nervously, with my hands slightly in my front pockets. I apologized again and then asked an important question.

"What happened last night, are you going to take away the discount because of it? I mean, it still means a lot to my friend and I really am sorry about-"

"It's fine." He cut in. "And yes, you can still have the discount. Like I said before, I'm not gonna rush anybody into anything they don't wanna do."

"Thanks. So, do you guys take checks?" I pulled one my mom wrote for 600, just in case he was okay with what happened, and waved it around.

"Why yes, we do." He took it from me and slipped it into the cash register and then grabbed a step stool from underneath the counter. Once he got the guitar down from the wall, he handed it to me. "I need you to hold that while I go get its case from the back."

"Okay." I looked at the shiny black guitar in my hands, turning it this way and that, seeing it catch the light. I could practically feel the power of the guitar coursing through my fingers and up my arms. I could definitely see what Fang loved about it. When Dylan came out with the case, I gently lay the guitar inside and noticed a pocket on the lid. In it was four picks, extra guitar strings in case his broke, and a connection cord to hook in to an amplifier made _just_ for his guitar. I placed them back inside and closed the lid. I picked up the case, thanked Dylan, and made my way back to my car. I set the guitar in the trunk so Fang wouldn't see it when I got to the club. I hoped he would like it. And I hoped he would still teach me guitar with his old one. I just had to wait four months until either of those could happen.

* * *

"So, how'd it go?" Fang asked quietly as he tuned his guitar. The others were on the little "stage", that was only two feet higher than the actual ground, while Fang and I were sitting at one of the seven small round tables.

"It was pretty good until he tried walking me to the door." I complained.

"Let me guess. A goodnight kiss?"

"Of course!" I stage-whispered. "It was horrible. I've just . . . I've never." I paused for a second. "Promise me you won't tell anyone."

"Okay. I promise."

"Well, I've never kissed anyone before. There, I said it." I glanced at Fang and he actually looked . . . surprised. "Are you gonna say something, or do you _like_ sitting there and looking like you just got hit by a car?"

"Haven't you had boyfriends before?"

"Yes."

"And they haven't tried to kiss you?"

"No, they have. I just wouldn't let them. I want my first kiss to be with someone I know and trust, not with someone that I had just met. It means less to me if it's just gonna be a week-long boyfriend or something."

"Guys!" Iggy called. "Are we gonna practice or what?"

"Yeah. We're coming." I yelled back. We got up on the stage with the others and ran through all of our songs twice to do sound checks. Well, that was the plan. But after we ate lunch, there were still things we had to fix with the sound before the show tonight. Before I knew it, it was starting to get dark outside. We ate dinner so we would be ready to start in and hour when more people would be there.

Once enough people were there, we played the first four songs we ever learned, plus the three new ones. I loved singing in front of everybody. It was like a thrill ride. But it wasn't the only thrill that was going to happen to the band tonight.

**I would really love some reviews. It is 3:43 AM right now. I just wanted to get this chapter done before I leave for Tampa in the morning. So I'm about to go to bed now. My mom thinks I'm sleeping :p. Tell me what you honestly think, even if it's mean. Oh! And if you speak ANY amount of Na'vi, please put it in your review so I feel more sane. It doesn't even have to match your review. Thanks! :D**


	14. Chapter 14

"Guys!" Iggy's mom called us over to the back corner, near a table with some men in suits were sitting. We glanced at them a few times, questioning who they were. One man, I was guessing the boss of the other two, stood up and took my hand to shake it. I was utterly confused.

"My daughter came by here the other week and told me about you guys. What are you guys called?" He asked.

"Umm . . ."

"We'll work on it later. How would you guys like it if we moved your band to a more public place? You guys were simply amazing and I want you to be heard."

"Where would you move us?" I questioned and I looked over at Fang who just shrugged.

"The Gold Band Shell in Memorial Park. You ever hear of it?"

"Heck yeah! It's not far from here either." I turned to the others. "What do you think guys?" They all cheered, except for Fang who just nodded and smiled.

"Excellent. I'll see you all . . . next week? Would that work for you?" Everyone nodded. "Great. I'll see you there at seven. No minute later. Just play the songs you did tonight. I've got big plans for you all." He smiled once more at us and left. Everyone hugged and laughed and cheered and whistled. Then Fang leaned forward and whispered in my ear.

"Good luck's already coming to us, huh?"

* * *

"So, do you think he's the manager of the band shell or something?" I asked Fang the next day.

"I don't know. Probably. It seems like nobody else would move us there except for the owner." He sat down in the grass next to me. I ripped some grass apart and let it fall back to the ground before I answered.

"Yeah . . . I guess. I really don't trust him though. Like, he didn't give us his name or his daughter's name _and_ we didn't even get to talk it through. I mean, I know I was the one who agreed to it at first, but then I thought about it and . . . I was really stupid to agree to something so quickly."

"Yeah, you were." He said. I smacked his arm and laughed. "So why'd you call me over here anyway?" He asked.

"Umm, well I . . ." I wasn't sure how to say it.

"Just say it. You can be honest with me." Fang looked at me, waiting to hear something. I took one long deep breath.

"I want you to be my first kiss." I said it quickly, hoping that he wouldn't hear. But of course he _did._ I glanced over at him and he had a weird look on his face. I mean, I can't even describe it. But it mostly looked like confusion. I bit my bottom lip; why did I even _say_ that? He answered me with one question.

"What?"

"Just . . . never mind. Forget it. Sorry." I started to get up but Fang grabbed my wrist and pulled me back down next to him. I tilted my head downward so my hair would shield my face. I was scared to face him; I might've possibly just ended our friendship . . . _again_. Fang took my hair and put it behind my ear. I threw it back in front of my face. He tucked behind my ear again, I _un_tucked it. It went on like that for about two more minutes.

"God damn it, Max. Just look at me." I did and his eyes held some other kind of emotion. I couldn't stop looking at them. Before I could even think about what emotion I saw, Fang was kissing me. I mean, I know I asked him to but . . . it still surprised me. I closed my eyes and kissed him back, but a few seconds later, I pulled away.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "I thought you asked me to."

"I did but . . . we're in relationships. Isn't this technically cheating?"

"No, because I'm doing a favor for you; we're not going out." He explained.

"Well . . . thanks, I guess." It was kind of awkward now. To me, at least. We walked inside and got something to drink and then we played Halo 3. I totally kicked his ass . . . five times out of six too! I was laughing and making fun of him and he'd just smirk and roll his eyes. He was too chill all the time. He'd always somewhat been that way though. I looked over at him and thought about Lissa. She didn't know how lucky she was to have a guy like Fang. Fang was caring and nice . . . even if he didn't seem like it.

"Your birthday's one week from tomorrow." Fang brought up. "Have you thought about what you want for a present?"

"Don't get me anything." I sighed.

"Why not?"

"I don't like people spending money on me." I told him. We were still playing Halo 3 and I noticed he was near me but couldn't see me yet. I hid in a little nook and when he walked by, I shot the heck out of him. "That's gonna be _you _if you buy something for me." I explained.

"Alright, I won't buy you anything. Are you happy now?"

"Very." I said smugly.

"So what're you gonna do on your birthday?" Fang asked.

"Nothing. Go to school."

"Max, your birthday is on a teacher duty day . . . we have no school."

* * *

Birthdays. Aren't they just _fun_? My mom planned my entire day out. I would be allowed to sleep in until ten and then get up, eat a yummy homemade breakfast, and be showered and dressed by noon. From noon until three, I'd have lunch and present time with my family and younger friends (Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge). From three until six, I'd have dinner and present time with my _female_ friends. And then from six until nine, I'd be hanging out with my guy buddies. Then I'd have one "hour to do whatever I want" before bed as my mom put it. That's basically her code for "you better put those away before you go to sleep".

My breakfast was amazing. I had like four pancakes with bacon and eggs, _plus_ fresh squeezed orange juice. My mom's mom and dad came but my dad's dad couldn't make it. Of course, my dad's _mom_ couldn't come because she was, well . . . dead. So now everyone was here; my mom, dad, sister, grandma, grandpa, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel. My mom and dad got me a new laptop, which was amazing. My grandma and grandpa gave me some kind of check to help pay for college after next year. Nudge got me a fashion magazine and told me to "order anything from it and her family would pay". She _was_ rich and I _did_ have some fashion issues. I thanked her and moved on to Gazzy and Angel's presents.

"We have different presents, but they go together." Gazzy told me.

"Mine first." Angel claimed. She handed me a long thin box and I opened it. There was a poster and I unraveled it. It was a Hannah Montana poster. I frowned and Angel said I'd like it better once I opened Gazzy's present. So I did. I started laughing when I unwrapped it. It was a box of permanent markers and a box of darts. They knew me so well.

"Fang helped us pick it out." Gazzy said.

"Thank you guys." They came up and gave me a hug at the same time. They were just so darn cute. We ate lunch and had birthday cake. Before I knew it, it was already time for the next group to come in. This time it was just gonna be JJ, Tess, and . . . Lissa. My mom just _had_ to invite her. I smiled as they walked in but glared at Lissa. My mom brought us cupcakes and then left us on our own. JJ got me a necklace with a small dream catcher on it and I put it on immediately. Tess got me a CD by Wakey!Wakey! and I thanked _her_. Lissa got me a card and twenty bucks. Unfortunately I had to thank her too. We talked and hung out for a little and Lissa acted all happy and cool. All I could think was, _how do they not realize how_ _**fake**__ she's being?_

And finally, it was time for my guys to get there. Just Iggy, Fang, Sam, and Dylan. Iggy . . . I don't even know what was going through his head from what he got me. I opened up a pack on 96 crayons _with_ the sharpener and three princess coloring books.

"Iggy? What's this for?"

"Oh, come on Max, we all know you secretly wanna be a princess." He said. I laughed and gave him a hug. Sam gave me the next present and it was a gift card. I only gave him a one-armed hug. What with him being my ex and all. Fang smiled at me and handed me the next present.

"Be careful with it. Please." He instructed. I carefully unwrapped the box and opened it. Once I got the bubble wrap off of the gift, I gasped.

"Fang, is this . . . ?" My voice trailed off as I opened the wooden music box. It played the most beautiful tune I could ever think of and I started to cry. I couldn't think of any way better to thank him except for to give him a really big hug.

"This is your mom's music box though." I said.

"Well, I remembered how much you loved it when we were little and it didn't cost me a penny." He told me.

"You're stupid. Always trying to find a loophole." I laughed and dried my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt. I carefully set the box down on the side table and noticed, when the light shone on it, that the box was worn where his mom had handled it. I smiled one more time before Dylan spoke up.

"I've got a present too you know. I really hope you like it." He handed the box over to me. I smiled _again_ – my cheeks were starting to hurt – and took the bow off the present. Once I pulled the lid off and lifted the tissue paper, I frowned. He was a liar! I was dating a freaking liar! And I was _not_ to happy about it.


	15. Chapter 15

**Fang POV**

The look in Max's eyes went from happy and careless to murderous and fierce. I could almost see her trembling with rage. He must've gotten her something pretty bad for her to be that mad. Iggy was on my left, stretched across the three section couch, except for the last little bit where Max was. Sam was next to me on the two sectioned couch. And Dylan was in the single chair across from me. I seemed to be the only one aware of what was happening though because Iggy was amusing himself by making pictures on the icing of his cupcake with his tongue while Sam stared out the sliding glass door near him.

"Where's _my_ hug?" Dylan asked her.

"You don't get a hug for this." Max hissed. "Why _would_ you get a hug?"

"Well I know you don't wanna kiss me so I thought that you could just wear that for me. You wouldn't have to kiss me. I'm being considerate." I looked at him incredulously, but he didn't see. He wanted Max to wear something inappropriate, I knew that much. Max scoffed at him.

"You're being _considerate?_" She stood up and threw the box across the floor once she had the lid back on. I lifted the lid to see what he had gotten her and noticed it was full of thongs. Anger flared inside me. I grabbed the box and stood up right behind Max, ready to back her up. Dylan was starting to stand up and Iggy and Sam finally snapped back into reality, but they were just watching. Max took slow steps that were menacing and scary, herding Dylan toward the front door like if she were herding sheep. Even though I could only see the back of her head, I knew that Max's eyes were like two bullets that shot through his head. I was _really_ glad at the moment that I wasn't Dylan.

Once Dylan was almost backed up toward the front door, Max reached around him to open it. Dylan tried to run the other direction . . . right into _me._ I held him still and shoved him outside after Max stepped away from the entry. Dylan stood there; facing Max and I. She stood right in front of him and gave him a look that made him cringe.

"Well, what am I going to do with your present?" He asked upsettingly. Max reached behind herself and yanked the box out of my hands. She threw them at Dylan.

"Why don't you use them for what they're for, and shove them up your ass?" She yelled, and then she slammed the door shut in his face. She stayed there for a second, breathing heavily, before turning around and looking straight into my eyes. I looked at her for a moment, noticing the pieces of green in her chocolate brown eyes. I lost connection with her when she pushed me aside to run up to her room.

"Let's go on facebook and see if she changes her status to "single"." Iggy suggested.

"She doesn't _have _a facebook." I said tiredly.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Huh." He leaned his head down on the armrest. Sam stood up.

"I think I'll go check on her, see how she's doing." He said.

"No you're not." I told him. "If anything, she'll want to talk to her best friend, not her ex-boyfriend." I could see anger in Sam's eyes but ignored it. He sat back down as I walked to the kitchen. I opened up the freezer part of the fridge and grabbed the carton of chocolate ice-cream and a spoon. When I walked back out into the den, Iggy glanced up at me.

"What's the ice-cream for?"

"I think I read somewhere that chocolate and ice-cream are the two main things that make girls feel better. I'm about to test that little theory." I explained and Iggy went back to doing nothing. Sam kept looking at me in disgust as I made my way up the stairs.

I made a slight knock at Max's door, hoping that she would hear me since she wasn't crying . . . from what I could hear. She called me in and I poked my head through to see her sitting on her bed with her iPod.

"Hey." She said weirdly happy.

"Umm, hi?" I took a few steps into her room and shut the door behind me.

"Are you holding chocolate ice-cream?" She sounded a little skeptic.

"Do you want me to put it back?" I raised an eyebrow and gestured to the door. After a moment of silence she waved me over to sit next to her. I held the ice-cream out to her and she took it as well as the spoon.

"So, are you upset?"

"Why would I be upset?" she mumbled, since she was mid-bite. Some of the ice-cream dribbled out of her mouth.

"Classic Max." I sighed. She smiled and continued eating. "I was thinking you might be upset because of your break up with Dylan." I continued. Max snorted.

"I'm _glad_! He was a sexist, lying, rude, disgusting, foul, evil, little cockroach!"

"Exactly how did he lie?" She set the ice-cream aside, it was already empty. I was hoping it was close to being finished before she started.

"He told me that he suggested to his girlfriend that they should have sex but they didn't have to if she didn't want to. Apparently, she freaked out and broke up with him for even _thinking_ of it. But based on the "present" I got tonight, I have a feeling that he didn't care if she wanted to or not. I just feel stupid that I fell for his act." She concluded.

"He played the pity card." I informed her. "Most girls fall for it. They like guys who show that they have feelings and are sensitive. It's just the way you are."

"Yeah, I guess. I'm gonna head off to bed though; I'm pretty tired."

"Well, you're gonna need the rest, we have a big day tomorrow."

**So sorry I haven't updated in so long, I've been working at getting As and Bs at school. I have the first 8 chapters of Angel up for anyone who wants to read it. Please review and hopefully, I'll update soon!**


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